Bal Harbour

"M iami is always in my heart—I'm missing it a lot," Edoardo Caovilla, the third-generation designer behind luxury Venetian shoe label, René Caovilla, effuses over the phone. It's not for long, though—as soon as its safe to do so, he plans to fly over from taly for some overdue fting The occasion? The opening of a new boutique at Bal Harbour Shops. By some standards, Caovilla is the new kid on the block. The boutique is the brand's second-ever stateside location. As the left and right brain of the family operation (he is creative director and COO of his grandfather's maison), Caovilla's reasoning behind the decision to make Bal Harbour Shops the next home for the label's Swarovski-dappled heels was two-fold: "As soon as we found out about the opportunity to open a shop there, we decided to do it. Despite the short term reality, we really trust in the future," he says, adding that "Miami represents the mixing of cultures. It's happy, proud and colorful… My personal link with the city is really strong." Some 5,000 miles away from Bal Harbour Shops is the original Venetian maison where all of René Caovilla's serpentine stilettos and satin slingbacks are designed. "It's where the family and the company were born," says Caovilla. The headquarters have been retrofitted with a few updates a glossy bacofhouse manufacturing center, for one), but it's very much the same workshop established by his grandfather, also née Edoardo Caovilla, in 1934. Within the Caovilla troika, each creative had their own goals while at the helm. René, Edoardo's father, designed René Caovilla heels exclusively for Dior (circa the John Galliano years) and Chanel haute couture shows under Karl Lagerfeld. A 10-year-old Edoardo tagged along for backstage visits and meetings with the megawatt designers. "I learned their approach to how to create, and where their creations come from. I've been lucky," he laughs. Now that the métier is his, Caovilla is not willing to compromise on quality. The strong DNA and painstaking attention to detail that his predecessors spent years sharpening is far more than a vestige in today's shoes. "I'm proud of my father and my grandfather… they have always been focused on quality and craftsmanship and that's really helped distinguish our shoes from the other brands," he says. That savoir faire is exactly what earned the attention of an eclectic mix of starry names over generations —among them, Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Joan Smalls and Bella Hadid. "It's not easy to design for different customers and situations," Caovilla admits. "We create products for when women want to loo very refined and very elegant, but also for when they lie to dress easily in jeans and sneakers," says Caovilla. or those in search of a pair that suits their personal style, youll liely find eactly what you're looking for at the Bal Harbour boutique, where more than 30 percent of the looks are exclusive to the shop. "We designed these looks with the location in mind," says Caovilla. "We want the customers to have uniqueness." Edoardo Caovilla with the iconic Cleo sandal; below, the leo floral and essie sandals IMAGE COURTESY OF RENE CAOVILLA New Footing WITH ITS BUZZY OPENING IN BAL HARBOUR SHOPS, EDOARDO CAOVILLA USHERS IN A NEW ERA FOR HIS FAMILY BUSINESS—THE SECOND - OLDEST LUXURY SHOEMAKER IN THE WORLD, RENÉ CAOVILLA. By Danielle Naer 104 BAL HARBOUR

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